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A survey* of young people attending a regional music festival has found that factors such as an awareness of their blood alcohol concentration (BAC), and having more than five hours sleep and less than six drinks the night before made them feel safer to drive in the morning.

The survey of 409 participants - 66 were drinking during the morning of the survey and were excluded - 60.4% of them male, was conducted by medical students from Western Sydney University, overseen by Dr Sabrina Pit from the University Centre for Rural Health North Coast, and the STEER youth project, which provides voluntary breath testing at North Coast music events and other events, including private functions.

When I was allocated Grafton by my university I expected my year-long placement to occur in a stereotypical small town where everyone knew each other, and nothing ever happened. In my imagination, the sleepy town had an equally sleepy hospital and GP clinics - a close-knit community that made it difficult for outsiders to fit in.

I was prepared to be lonely and bored in yet another bastion of poor immunisation amongst the beauty of the North Coast. However, despite what the locals will jokingly tell you, I found Grafton to be bustling with activity. There was always some festival or local event, from the pomp and ceremony used to celebrate the jacaranda trees with tourists from around the world, to the humble Grafton show or even the competitive weekly pub trivia. Locals warmly included you into the local community. Strangers greet you in the street and generous unexpected hospitality was often offered, even if you had just met them.

Call it what you will – names include grass, ganja, hootch, loco weed, whacky tabacky, Mary Jane or her cousin, Alice B Toklas – cannabis has never been regarded by the mainstream as anything but a recreational drug… until now.

Suddenly in Australia marijuana (another of its names) has been moving into the therapeutic ‘space’, sanctioned by government as suitable for prescribing as an aid to alleviating, although not curing, a range of conditions, some of them paediatric.

Easter on the North Coast - rain, washed out sporting events and the BluesFest. It’s a tradition - drugs and mud, booze and blues. Previous issues of GPSpeak have championed Dr David Caldicott’s advocacy of voluntary drug testing for festival goers. In April the first tests were run at the Groovin’ the Moo festival in Canberra. The results showed that 50% of the illicit drugs tested contained substances such as lactose, sweetener and paint, while 50% were pure MDMA.

Two of the 85 samples contained ephylone, a potentially fatal stimulant. Further testing is planned at other locations but the North Coast’s Splendour in the Grass is unlikely to participate for the foreseeable future.

Emergency departments in Northern Rivers hospitals “welcomed increasing numbers of patients” in the latest recorded quarter (Jan-March), to use the words of Northern NSW Local Health District CEO Wayne Jones, with the rise in local demand registering well above the NSW average.